


Dynamo

by rainsonata



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:15:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainsonata/pseuds/rainsonata
Summary: A trip to the desert renews old memories of a cat nasod from Mastermind’s past.  In search for a rare code, he discovers something that may be of use. (MM-centric)





	Dynamo

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr.

Hot gusts flew in his direction and blew his hood off to reveal a ponytailed man dressed in attire of nearly all white. His eyes glowed an iridescent magenta, sparks flying out from them and his Dynamo when he glided on them with natural ease. Mastermind ordered the sextuplet weapons to reconfigure into a circular formation to cast a static field before sending pink light at the harpies attacking from above.

“What a mess,” he grumbled in annoyance when the damn things went for his right arm. 

His dynamo blocked them from ripping into his flesh, using them as leverage to toss them aside and used Panzer Buster on the rest of the flock. The scientist didn’t flinch when one of them crashed head first into a fallen pillar of the ancient ruins he threaded into. He wasn’t here to be concerned about old buildings. Kek, they could easily be reduplicated if people bothered to put in the effort. No, he was here for something better.

He had been stuck in the middle of nowhere for days, scavenging through what seemed to be hundreds of old ruins like this one. It was a flimsy idea to pour such effort from bits and rumors, but he was sure it wasn’t a search he would come to regret. It had been over a day since he spotted an oasis and he had yet to find the ancient code that was promised to amplify his powers. 

Underneath the crumbled pillar were more cracked bits of cement covered in sand and dust. A wide grin spread across Mastermind’s face when his dynamo flickered and whirled in response to the potential hidden code lying somewhere in these ruins. He proceeded into the ruins, soon finding himself surrounded by tall columns and pillars that seemed to lead nowhere until he stopped at the sound of the dynamo going haywire.

He turned off the tracking application to stare at the pile of rocks and concrete that had crumbled away to small pebbles at his feet. Could this be the place the Sanders merchants were talking about? It didn’t look impressive compared the rest of the site he’s previously trekked to, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to find what he was seeking for on a gold palate any time soon unless he continued searching. 

A distant howl was heard through the wind.

Mastermind closed his eyes for a moment to breathe through his dry mouth. By this point, his enthusiasm had deflated. He no longer cared about the dirt on his white gloves he always wore when he started doing the work himself, but also ordered his dynamo to go through the remnants as well. He was starting to wonder if this was a pointless search after all. Could this be an excuse for those merchants to get him to do their errands?

The howl became louder with several more joining in with it. The twitching of his dynamo signaled him to look up to see a herd of Trock stomping in his direction. One of them got to him first and headbutt its head into his stomach. Mastermind choked at the impact and lost his air. He hugged his stomach and groaned in pain, but kept his eyes open to see more of them coming. His dynamo reflected a few attacked from the Trocks, but he was outnumbered.

A layer of his skin was scraped off from being tossed around by the demons, blood dripping down his once pristine white coat like red paint. He didn’t look at it in fear that it was worse than it felt. Mastermind panted and ran away while taking off his jacket to wrap it around the injury to stop it from bleeding. He tossed a nasod out to the surrounding Trocks and activated a delayed explosion. Mastermind turned around to duck, but he failed to run away on time. The bomb flashed and pushed his back against the column behind him. There was no time for him to react when the top of the column broke off and fell down to where his head was.

He forgot about being attacked, let alone that why he was here, and shielded his head with his arms with his eyes shut. The beasts’ cries rang in his ears; they were getting closer. He opened his eyes in shock when he felt an additional force push him away from underneath the collapsing column. Mastermind slid across the uneven flooring with his forearm scratched and covered in dust, but he was otherwise unharmed in a sense that he wasn’t suffering from a possible head injury.

“D-dynamo?” Mastermind stared at his dynamo that pushed him away from the colliding obstacles.

Of course there was no response from his weapon. It wouldn’t register that as a command, but his dynamo twitched in response to his voice as if acknowledging him. He was dumbfounded. How? He didn’t give it any commands! The scientist never recalled installing a program to make it react like this. Unless… it was the old codes?

 _This is bad_ , he thought. His breathing was getting shallow and if he wasn’t careful, he could lose too much blood if he didn’t attend to it immediately. He needed to end this fight fast.

Mastermind switched his dynamo into factory mode and hastily went through what he currently had. Would this be enough? With the last bit of energy he could muster, the scientist launched a small nasod at the mass of Trocks and activated Psionic Generator. The Trocks’ shrieks filled the putrid air and spiked up his senses, but pink light from his attack blinded him and forced him to shut his eyes.

His eyelashes fluttered open when the light disappeared and he discovered a pile of corpses lying across the stoned floors, some of them with milky eyed expression with their limbs spread out disjointly. He was quick to move past them and went to retrieve his stuff he left behind in the midst of the fight. While going through the debris to get to his bag, he stopped when he felt something flat and smooth underneath it.

He ripped his gloves off and ran his hand through it. Rough on the edges, but in good condition for the place it was found in, Mastermind gasped. It was the code he was looking for. He held it up in the palm of his hand to make sure it was real. To think something this valuable was to be found in this pile of rubbish.

Nearly out of food and supplies, he was more than ready to leave and return to Sanders for proper rest after days of poor sleep in the everlasting desert. Mastermind hopped on his dynamo to go back, but discovered that one of them failed to listen to his command. The stray piece of junk wobbled when it levitated with the rest and had sparks flying dangerously out through its wires if he approached it.

The scientist cursed at his luck. He knew it was too good to last.

Having a broken dynamo was nothing unusual, but it was still an inconvenient for him. He took out a spare he had in his bag and ran a few tests on it to make sure it was functioning before equipping it. This should do for now until he could return to his lab to fix the broken dynamo. Despite all the injuries he suffered through, Mastermind remained giddy when he returned from his long trip with the ancient code in the palm of his hand. 

* * *

Tools were spread out at his working station, nicely lined up for him to see where everything was. He sat in front of a big computer screen with several windows to display many lines of codes and programs at his dispense. A lone dynamo sat lifeless on the table with one half of its cover ripped off, colorful wires discarded in the trash bin with the remnants of broken pieces that were no longer of use.

Mastermind’s eyes were fixated on the computer screen, typing furiously into the keyboard before pausing to check his work again. It wasn’t unusual for his dynamo to be broken, the damn useless metal junk, but it was always this particular dynamo that broke. Perhaps it was time to replace it entirely?

He carefully drew out new wires to replace the old ones in the broken dynamo and tugged on them. The broken dynamo was identical to the rest of the set, but nevertheless, it was a part of him in a way. The scientist laughed at the irony. For all the effort he put himself through to make himself stronger, he had to rely on nasods to make half of his accomplishments possible. He was fulfilling his father’s wish to become a nasod prodigy even when it was merely out of the need to survive. 

Dynamo had no resemblance to the nasod it once was. It responded to his voice and commands, but it no longer talked or held any connections to the ancient library. Not that it would have mattered since the ancient nasod library had crumbled when it met its limits.

He had scrapped its ability to talk because it wasn’t necessary. It wasn’t needed for the nasod to keep requesting for commands or repeating his name when he could send updates to its through his headset. Having a voice box would give away his position when doing important missions and it was a nuisance to hear its high pitch voice breaking his concentration when he was in the middle of something. Why should he be feeling nostalgic about inconveniences like that? It didn’t even register his name correctly!

And anyway, he didn’t completely dismantle it. Dynamo was still the same program with many of the old features sacrificed in exchange for the numerous updates its accumulated over the years. The cat design was simplified to smaller pieces for mobility in fighting and collecting data. It was an improvement of its original form, so why was he sad thinking about it? 

_Changing Dynamo wasn’t a mistake_ , Mastermind was hard pressed to go on with the lingering thought. There was no use in having regrets in what has already been done.

He snapped the wires into the dynamo and checked the chip to see if it needed to be replaced as well. Mastermind dug through his toolbox for a screwdriver to put the dynamo’s half cover back on and screwed it back on tight. Scans were running before he decided it was time to test it out. 

He watched it come to life as it glowed with electricity running through its repaired wires, sparks flying around it as if to reassure him that it was functioning. Mastermind had it move around in small circle formations and performed a few spins to test its dexterity before he let it join his other dynamo.

Satisfied with his job done, Mastermind took a sip from his mug. He almost gagged as soon as his tongue made contact with the coffee. It was lukewarm after sitting on his desk for a few hours with the melted ice cubes giving it a watered down taste.

The ancient code he uncovered from Sanders sat on his desk next to the keyboard. With a soft cloth, he used it to clean in between the dirt and scum accumulated around it. It was the size of a paperclip and shone when he placed it under the lamp. 

What was he going to do with this? He picked up the chip that contained the ancient code. An electronic copy was made after he analyzed it with his computer, but what else was there to do with it? He didn’t use all the codes he discovered in Elrios, but he wasn’t one to let a good rare code to waste when he had to lose blood and sweat over it. 

He stared down at his computer with the electronic copy of the set of codes opened in a new window. The codes glowed as he took notes of their properties with ideas on how to implement them into his dynamo. He woke up later that day and wiped his eyes to see that the sun has set. 

Crumpled paper balls were flooding his trashcan and overflowing onto the carpet of his room. He uncrumpled one to look at the idea, but tossed it away in disgust when he scanned its contents. 

Dynamo managed to be annoying even when it lacked its original voicebank. Mastermind closed his eyes again, but his dynamo poked him in the ribs with impatience, shaking and jabbing him until he sat awake with a grumpy expression. It never bothered him that they sometimes seemed to have a mind of its own because they never got in his way, but it did drive his curiosity on their origins. He suspected it was his mother’s doing, but why put in all the effort to make a dynamo that doesn’t obey everything he commands? 

“Enough,” Mastermind growled and pushed the floating dynamo away with his hands. He sighed and shook his head. There is no point in questioning the motives of his dead mother when he had more important stuff to attend to. 

_Venturing out to Sanders’ outlands alone was a poor choice_ , he thought when he recalled his uncovering of the ancient code. He barely made it out because of his dynamo’s odd behavior. This could not go on forever if he wanted to be efficient in collecting data in the future. Maybe if he had something that could fend off enemies while he was doing his work without having to concentrate… 

Mastermind took out another sheet of paper with a pen underneath a small smile forming across his lips. He could work with that. 

* * *

The once pristine lab was cluttered with spare parts and books on the floor. His equipment looked like it was just about time for them to get a regular maintenance and his clothes were tossed on his chair with wrinkles. His tools were out of the toolbox, spread across his work station. The only audible sound in the lab was the quiet buzzing coming from his screwdriver as Mastermind finished adjusting the last minute changes. 

After looking through the ancient code again, he decided he was going to add the new code to a separate entry like he did to his installs with the dynamo as the base for power. It was too much for the systems to handle on its own and would likely overheat if he tried to add it directly to his dynamo.

Dynamo bounced gently off of his shoulder as he straightened his back to look at the codes again that were displayed on holographic screen. He spent months scraping together material to create the finalized version after running through many prototypes. The newest version was built with the the most powerful engine he could find and had the latest A.I. technology installed to adapt to battle while he collected data. He didn’t just want it to be able to fight, but also to have a similar tracking device as dynamo did so it could stay close to him for extra protection in case his other drones failed to function. 

At his working station was a gridded cube made out of smaller purple blocks. It bared no resemblance to dynamo’s original form, through function or appearances, but something compelled him to give it some of it old characteristics. One side of the cube lit up when it came to life. It gravitated above the ground, using the same technology as his dynamo. It had whiskers and a curled up mouth. Its ears perked up when blinking its eyes at Mastermind. 

“Enter user name,” his computer announced. It was synced into the new device and was following the code he set up for it. Good. 

The scientist cleared his throat and lowered his head to the same level as the cube, “Mastermind.”

His computer buzzed for a few seconds as it processed his voice. “User name, voice, and face scan confirmed. Please enter name for new device.”

Mastermind gently patted the cube with a fond smile. At first he thought of giving it a sphere layout like dynamo’s original form, realized he couldn’t force himself to do that. He didn’t want to replace dynamo when it was still here with him. Besides, it turned out that it was more efficient to have the cube be composed out of smaller units to make room for more flexibility. If one of the blocks broke, he could easily find a spare part as replacement.

The cube’s body blinked light and it smiled in response to its master’s touch, pushing itself against his hand and made a bizarre noise in combination of a cat’s meow and that of an electrical circuit. It looked harmless, but soon he would get to test out its capabilities in Battle Mode. For now, there were still experiments he needed to do before taking it out into the battlefield. 

“Please enter name,” his computer chirped. As if Mastermind didn’t respond again, it repeated, “Please enter name, please enter name, plea-”

Before it could complete its sentence, the scientist slammed his hand on the keyboard and pressed a combination of keys to make it silent itself. He rubbed his forehead and glared at his dynamo, which were resting comfortably against the desk as if mocking him at his frustration. The computer screen continued to flash light with the same reminder. 

_So annoying…_ Mastermind threw his head back in his seat. Of course he knew what to name it. He didn’t spend those months working on it to forget something petty like that. With half closed eyes, he said with a tired expression, “Apocalypse.”

There was a short pause from the computer’s processor as it processed the name he provided it. “Apocalypse registered,” the computer announced. “Battle Mode ready to initiate.” 

His eyes fluttered open (When did he close them?) to the sound of Apocalypse meowing to get his attention. The cat cube smiled at him when he patted it again before glancing at the screen to see it was ready to go. He covered his mouth when he yawned and realized that his vision was getting blurry. Gods, how much sleep did he get last night?

It probably wasn’t a good idea to set up Apocalypse when he couldn’t even bring himself to open his eyes properly. But then, he saw the cat cube look at him with blinking eyes and that it was waiting for a command.

Mastermind picked up his mug and discovered there was enough to last him for another hour or so. He drank the last of the bitter coffee before setting it down to get back down. 

Maybe one test run before going to sleep won’t hurt. 


End file.
